Human Circus: Journeys in the Medieval World

The Annales Fuldenses, or Annals of Fulda, is a source for 9th-century events in Carolingian lands: the incursions of the Northmen, fighting among the royal relatives, and omens in the sky. It also contains the story of an unfortunate village, an even more unfortunate villager, and the evil spirit that haunted both.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Source: The Annals of Fulda: Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II. Translated and annotated by Timothy Reuter. Manchester University Press, 1992. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The story of a 14th-century Flemish pirate, merchant, and adventurer, a man who took prizes at sea and took whatever side he needed to on land, crossing paths with various counts and kings as he went.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Sources: Barrell, Andrew D. M. Medieval Scotland. Cambridge University Press, 2000. Cushway, Graham. Edward III and the War at Sea: The English Navy, 1327-1377. Boydell Press, 2011. Holinshed, Raphael. Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 5. J. Johnson, et. al. 1808. Lucas, Henry S. “John Crabbe: Flemish Pirate, Merchant, and Adventurer.” Speculum 20, no. 3 (1945): 334–50. Rose, Susan. Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000-1500. Routledge, 2003. Wilson, Ben. Empire of the Deep: The Rise and Fall of the British Navy. Orion, 2013. The Anonimalle Chronicle 1307 to 1334. Edited by Wendy R. Childs and John Taylor. Cambridge University Press, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 15th-century Spanish traveller goes home, mixing with the imperial elite along the way.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Source: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 15th-century traveller returns to Venice and goes overland into central and western Europe, making friends and catching up with some old ones along the way. He'll heal at the thermal baths, and there's talk of Bruges, Antwerp, medieval trade and textiles, and the fairs.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pedro Tafur ventures out from Constantinople to visit a sultan, an emperor, and the centre of the Black Sea slave trade.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Barker, Hannah. That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019. Gregory, Timothy E. A History of Byzantium. John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 15th-century traveller dodges catastrophe on the Mediterranean and drops in on late-imperial Constantinople, where there's plenty of seafood and the roots of Pedro's family tree.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Gregory, Timothy E. A History of Byzantium. John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Byron, Robert & Rice, David Talbot. The Birth of Western Painting. Routledge, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As our Castilian traveller makes his roundabout way toward Mt Sinai, he finds ill-health but lots of help on Cyprus, while around Cairo he's struck by the street food and crocodiles.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Excerpta Cypria: Materials for a History of Cyprus, edited by Claude Delaval Cobham. Cambridge University Press, 1908. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The journey of our 15th-century Castilian traveller continues, as Pedro Tafur leaves Venice and makes his way to Jerusalem, where there will be no shortage of things for him to see and do.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Antrim, Zayde. “Jerusalem in the Ayyubid and Mamluk Periods.” Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem, edited by Suleiman Mourad, Bedross Der Matossian, and Naomi Koltun-Fromm, 102-109. New York: Routledge, 2018. Dalrymple, William. In Xanadu: A Quest. HarperCollins, 1990. Little, Donald P. “Mujīr Al-Dīn al-ʿUlaymī’s Vision of Jerusalem in the Ninth/Fifteenth Century.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 115, no. 2 (1995): 237–47. Norwich, John Julius. A History of Venice. Penguin, 2003. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pedro Tafur, a 15th-century Castilian, makes his way around Spain and Italy with lengthy stops in Genoa, Venice, and Rome, and generally has a pretty pleasant holiday.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. Oxford University Press, 1989. Verità, Marco, Laura Speranza, Simone Porcinai, and Daniele Angellotto. “The Sacro Catino in Genoa: Analytical and Technological Investigations of a Unique Glass Vessel.” Journal of Glass Studies 60 (2018): 115–28. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Giovanni Fontana was a 15th-century Italian engineer and inventor. His designs included everything from systems for retrieving sunken ships and automating the defence of fortifications to measuring time and producing music. He created locks, clocks, and magic lanterns.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.Sources: Fontana, Giovanni. Bellicorum instrumentorum liber cum figuris... Digitized at https://codicon.digitale-sammlungen.de/inventiconCod.icon.%20242.html Gilbert, Bennett. “The Dreams of an Inventor in 1420,” Public Domain Review. 2018. https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-dreams-of-an-inventor-in-1420/ Grafton, Anthony. “The Devil as Automaton: Giovanni Fontana and the Meanings of a Fifteenth-Century Machine,” in Genesis Redux: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Artificial Life, edited by Jessica Riskin. University of Chicago Press, 2007. Grafton, Anthony. Magic and Technology in Early Modern Europe. Smithsonian Institution Libraries, 2005. Grafton, Anthony. Magus: The Art of Magic from Faustus to Agrippa. Harvard University Press, 2023. Rossi, Cesare and Russo, Flavio. Ancient Engineers' Inventions: Precursors of the Present. Springer, 2016. Sparavigna, A.C. “Giovanni de la Fontana, Engineer and Magician.” Cornell University Library, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices